What I Have Learned About Hitler

¶ … Hitler's early life as well as his rise to power in Germany. This paper will discuss the Nazi Party and the start of the Second World War.

Early Life

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau, Austria, a small town across the Inn River from Germany. He was the fourth child of his father's third marriage. His father, Alois was born illegitimate and this would later have bearing on Adolf's mental state. Years later, some of Hitler's political opponents would insult him by calling him Schicklgruber or German for bastard. Adolf received good marks in elementary school, but did poorly high school. This greatly disappointed his father who wanted his son to have a career as a civil servant. Instead Adolf wanted to study art.

In 1907, Hitler went to Vienna where he wanted to be an art student. He failed the entrance examination of the Academy of Fine Arts twice. His mother died in 1907. Adolf had an income from the money his mother left him and inherited some money from his aunt. He lived comfortably and idly during most of his stay in Vienna, considering himself an artist.

Rise to Power

It was during this time that he developed an interest in politics and the German Nationalistic movement. He recognized in himself a dislike of people of certain religions, races and creed and wanted to join the army. He also failed that physical exam and was unable to serve. However upon the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for service and fought heroically for Germany. His country's loss left him bitter and enraged. While recovering for mustard gas exposure, he joined the German Worker's Party, which later would become the Nazi Party. This party was extremely loyal to the German way of life and fought politically to have non-residents like Jews and Slav denied German rights. During this time, Hitler displayed great organizational skills and a mind for planning battle as well as strategy. Hitler created an elite force of soldiers called the Storm Troopers. In a very short time, this secret army gained a membership of 15,000 and a considerable arsenal. The main objective was to fight anyone against the German way of life. While Hitler was great at organization, he was even a better public speaker and writer. He wrote of his ideologies "that Germans represented a superior form of humanity. They must stay pure by avoiding marriage to Jews and Slavs" (World Book, 2003). Hitler blamed the Jews for the evils of the world. He gave many riveting speeches to the German public and gained popularity.

Germany was suffering with the rest of the world through a Depression and through his speeches he was able to gain trust in his leadership. Slowly the Nazi Party gained power. By using the media, Hitler spread propaganda emphasizing his social reforms such Jews having lesser rights. He also recruited Germany's youth by having camp-like retreats for high school students. Still not many Germans believed Hitler to be serious about raging a war.